High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! A prairie lake is a somewhat shallow lake that will empty naturally during dry periods allowing a variety of land plants to flourish in the rich nutrients on the lake bottom. The lakes eventually fill up with water returning to their previous state. In northern Florida, a Flatwoods/Prairie Lake is generally a shallow basin in flatlands with high water table and often with sink holes. These lakes frequently have a broad littoral zone; still water or flow-through; sand or peat substrate; variable water chemistry, but characteristically colored to clear, acidic to slightly alkaline, soft to moderately hard water with moderate mineral content sodium, chloride, sulfate; oligo-mesotrophic to eutrophic. These lakes are often associated with aquifers.